Welcome back to September.  I’m excited to step into another month of blog posts with you. This start of September may be a little different than past years AND for many it still signals the start of a new year and new routines.

As we start this month, what are you excited about? What are you looking forward to? What do you want to make sure you focus on?

We’re going to start the month with our typical monthly review and stock taking. If you haven’t participated in one of these before, I hope you will take 5-10 minutes today to work on it. What’s important to note and pay attention to?

Looking back to the month of August (and/or the summer):

1. What were your achievements?
2. What didn’t get completed but is going to be carried forward?
3. What learning did you undertake?
4. What strengths did you leverage?
5. What got in the way of your plans/achievements?
6. What helped to MAGNIFY or AMPLIFY things?
7. What helped you FOCUS?
8. What helped you SIMPLIFY or streamline?
9. What else is important to note about your past month? (metrics, lessons learned, other…)
10. What did you do to renew?
11. What habits did you lean into?

 
Looking ahead to the month ahead:

1. What are your major goals for September?
2. What do you want to focus on?
3. What needs to be completed by the end of the quarter/end of this month?
4. What is the one routine you want to make sure you develop or maintain?
5. What’s important to let go of?
6. What will help you streamline or systematize?
7. What will help you MAGNIFY or AMPLIFY?
8. What habits do you want to focus on?
9. What relationships do you want to pay attention to?
10. What actions/projects do you want to complete, not matter what?
11. What else is important to note?

Enjoy your reflections!
Jennifer

It’s the beginning of August which means that it’s time to stop and take a pause to check in around your plans and goals.

How did July go? What progress are you making on your Q3 goals? What’s your focus going to be this month?

What did you notice about your metrics last month?

My hope is that today you will take a few minutes to stop and pause and do some planning for the month of August and beyond, while also taking some time to reflect on July.

It’s been 2 years since I launched the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner, and about 18 months since PlanDoTrack was released. Since that time, many of you have gone through one planner, moved to the other. Did you know that this spring I also made the planners available at our site for digital download? While they are intended for analog use (ie. hardcopy) you can now order a digital copy and print it off for personal use.

Pick up a copy of the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner (for virtual and remote professionals) here at our Potentials Realized site here.

Pick up a copy of the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner for coaches at our Potentials Realized site here.

If you have a copy of either one of these, you will want to explore:
#1 – The Month in Review
#2 – The Monthly Daily Trackers
#3 – One Line a Day

And for now, here are some reflection and planning questions (I’ve gone back to July 2019’s post for these!):

Looking back to the month of July:

1. What are you pleased with achieving?
2. What didn’t get completed but is going to be carried forward?
3. What strengths did you leverage this month?
4. What got in the way of your plans/achievements?
5. What helped to MAGNIFY or AMPLIFY things?
6. What helped you FOCUS?
7. What helped you SIMPLIFY?
8. What else is important to note about your month? (metrics, lessons learned, other…)
9. What did you do to renew?
10. What habits did you lean into?

 
Looking ahead to the month ahead:

1. What are your major goals?
2. What do you want to focus on?
3. What do you want to let go of?
4. What will help you simplify?
5. What will help you MAGNIFY or AMPLIFY?
6. What habits do you want to focus on?
7. What relationships do you want to pay attention to?
8. What actions/projects do you want to complete, not matter what?
9. What else is important to note?

Enjoy your planning!
Jennifer

A few months ago, I did a series of posts on “What’s Different When Working Remotely”. There was a series of several of them, which I thought would be interesting to revisit as remote working has been happening for many for many months and may be extended into the future for many more months. My invitation is for you to do a pulse check in your next meeting around these items:

1. Autonomy
2. Skills
3. Connections with others
4. Matrix relationships
5. Focus
6. Motivation
7. Inner drive
8. Relationship building
9. Visibility
10. Boundaries

 
Here’s what I wrote in Teams365 #2242 - 

Yesterday’s Teams365 post explored four key differences when working remote – Autonomy, Skills, Connections with others and the Matrix.

In today’s post, I wanted to share four additional differences when working remote – focus, motivation, and inner drive, to relationship building and visibility.

In general, many things get magnified in the remote space – from clarity, or lack of clarity, around communication, processes, roles, goals; to what we actually see on the screen. This means that we may need to be more intentional in sharing information, checking assumptions and confirming that our messages were understood in the way they were communicated.

Motivation - When working remotely, a lot of us need to rely on our own inner motivation and self-direction to get things done. For those who like to work autonomously, it’s great! Being clear on what we need to excel as a team member, leader or business owner is key.

As I wrote yesterday, “No person is an island” and we do want to make sure we are clear on our strengths, and style preferences. It’s also key to note that when we over leverage our strengths, that they can become a blind spot. In the remote space this may mean that they get over magnified. So, if I have a love of learning I may keep learning, rather than getting work done. What are the strengths you are able to leverage? What’s important about your work? What drives you? What do you need to be aware of in case it gets over magnified?

For more on Motivation and Remote Work, check out some of the episodes of the Remote Pathways Podcast. 

You’ll also want to check out Week 6 of the 52 Weeks of Remote Work.

What is important for you about motivation in the remote space?

Context - One of the major challenges in the remote space is that we see each other usually only through the small window of the screen. As I write in Effective Virtual Conversations, a great activity to undertake is “what’s outside your screen”? What can we do to share more about the context of our work? That might include:

• Sharing a little more about your desk
• Sharing what’s outside your window
• Talking about what is a priority in your work
• Sharing more about the way work is done, or preferences are in your location (especially if you are a virtual team)

What context pieces are important to share?

Visibility and proactivity - Visibility and proactivity is key in the remote space. Some remote workers feel that their careers get stuck because they aren’t visible like those in an office space. I would invite a perspective that visibility is less about where you are, but how you approach work. What are you doing to be visible, to bring people together, to connect with peers and other stakeholders, to be proactive in connecting on a regular basis with your boss and team?

Regular co-working sessions may provide an opportunity for learning more and connecting with your peers, as well as hearing what you are working on. These sessions may run for an hour, half day or more. 

What is important for you to explore around visibility? What do you need to be more proactive about?

Focus - For many remote workers, productivity can actually increase when moving to work in the remote space. A study by Stanford Business School, headed by Professor Nicholas Bloom found a 13% increase in productivity by those who WFH (Work From Home). You will find a copy of the original publication here at Prof. Bloom’s site.
 
For another interesting article on the same topic check out Scott Mautz’s Inc article.

Even though there are differences with remote work, it’s still important to focus in on the basics of high performance. Be sure to check out the posts I have written on the Six Factors of High Performing Teams. How are we being clear about the ROLES, GOALS, PRACTICES of our work, in addition to connecting in with our vision and mandate, and being clear bout what success will look like?

Tomorrow, we’ll explore another remote working ingredient for success – managing boundaries! (LINK to 2243)
Where are you as a team as it relates to clarity around these ten areas? BE sure to do a pulse check and focus in those areas that need attention.
 
July in Review
Thanks for Joining us this month! This month’s posts have continued to take us through the landscape of remote work , and have included these posts:

Monday’s Effective Virtual Conversations Tips – Messy Middle, Remote Skill: Working Across Differences; Appreciations; Six Factors

My Tuesday Back to Basics Posts around Feedback, Listening and also the Energy of Virtual Calls

Wednesday’s focusing on Stand Out Remotely; Digitize and Virtualize; (LINNK) and Remote Team Builders (LINK)

Thursday’s Team Building Tips – with questions to spark you around getting grounded as well as what you need to say no to, and what needs to be collapsed.
​
Historically July has been a month of taking some time to pause and renew. What are you focusing on right now? What’s the support you need to keep doing your best work, and having your best conversations?

Best,
Jennifer

It’s May and it’s time to take stock and pause and welcome in this new month! I’m excited to be back with you with some new posts this month around Teams, Mindset, Planning and Productivity in the remote space from my 2019 workbook planner PlanDoTrack, and also Boosting Connection with Groups, Teams and Communities.

Before we get going, let’s take a pause to reflect on our last month – the month of April:
​
As you think about April:

• What are the top 3 positive highlights from the month for you?
• What skills and strengths helped you?
• What habits did you lean into?
• What did you accomplish?
• What distractions got in the way?
• What surprized you?
• How did you navigate the changes you were faced with?
• What projects, tasks and activities are going to carry forward?
• What Q2 goals have been achieved? What’s shifted already?
• What else is important to note?

As you look ahead to the new month of May:

• What are your top 3-5 priorities?
• What’s important to take action on and/or wrap up this month?
• What key activities are important to put boundaries around?
• What distractions do you want to minimize?
• What relationships are important to note?
• What habits to you want to count on?

What else?

If you have a copy of PlanDoTrack or Coaching Business Builder take note of the metrics you have been tracking in your Monthly Daily Trackers and be sure to complete the Month in Review as well as your Monthly To-Dos, and new month in review.

Enjoy your end of week and reflection!

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Everything DiSC
Phone (416)996-8326

Get your Q2 planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder

Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon, or join me for the Virtual Facilitation Essentials program

Contact us to discuss how we can support you and your teams and organization with remote work.

Check out upcoming virtual programs on our calendar
​
PDF copies of PlanDoTrack now available! Get yours here. ​

Well another month has slipped by and it’s time to focus in on how this last month went. How did the “last mile” of November fare for you? What are you needing to carry forward to the new month?

In this month’s last post of the month, it’s an opportunity to focus in on what you did accomplish and earmark items for the final month of the year. What do you want to and need to pay attention to as you move into the final month of the year?
​
Here’s several questions to get you thinking about this month end:

• What were my major achievements this month?
• What “last mile” activities did I get to complete? What’s still on the list to complete before year end?
• What do I want to celebrate?
• As I consider my goals (and resolutions) I made at the start of the year, how am I doing with these on a scale of 1-10? Which ones are becoming new habits or something I can check off?
• Which ones need to be let go of?
• As a leader, what have I noticed about my team this month?
• As a leader, what notes should I make about performance issues (if I haven't done it already!)
• The thing that has helped me be most productive this month has been ______
• The thing that has helped me be most successful this month has been ______
• The thing that has helped me be happiest this month has been ________
• The thing that has helped me be most healthy has been _______

As I think about the summer overall:

• My biggest accomplishment has been....
• My biggest learning has been....
• My ability to flourish has been supported by....
• I'm proud of....
• The one habit which has really helped me has been...
• I want to continue….

Looking ahead to the month of December:

1. My top 3 -5 goals this month are:
2. The things I absolutely want to finish are:
3. My priorities are:
4. Wild success at the end of the month will look like …. (Yes, this is one of my favorite questions which I ask each month in PlanDoTrack…)
5. The interruptions and disruptions I want to minimize are….
6. The habit I want to focus on is…
7. I want to take daily steps around…
8. I want to reach out to….
9. I want to say NO to…
10. I want to keep an eye on…
11. I’m excited about….

Enjoy the reflections!
​Jennifer

​Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized | Coaching Team Leaders | Remote Pathways Podcast
Team and Leadership Development | Coaching | Writing 
Phone (416)996-8326
 
As we step into the end of the year, get your planning on with the PlanDoTrack Workbook and Planner or Coaching Business Builder
Looking to enhance your virtual conversations? Webinars? Pick up a copy of Effective Virtual Conversations at Amazon.

Welcome to a new month here at the Teams365 blog. Our focus for the month of November is going to be on getting you prepared for year end, navigating disruption, and also continuing with our remote teamwork tips.

Today’s business context can be very volatile. With this in mind, we’re going to focus in on a number of key topics you have probably been hearing about:

• VUCA
• Focus
• Attention
• Systems

In addition to this, we’ll explore:

• Year End Vision
• Year End Team Acknowledgements
• Vision for 2020

It’s also the start of the month which means that it’s time to spend a few minutes reviewing October and doing some planning for the month of November.

As you think about October:

• What were your main accomplishments?
• What skills and strengths helped you?
• What distractions got in the way?
• What surprized you?
• How did you navigate the changes you were faced with?
• What projects, tasks and activities are going to carry forward?
• What Q4 goals have been achieved? What’s shifted already?
• What else is important to note?

As you look ahead to November:

• What are your top 3-5 priorities?
• What’s important to take action on and wrap up this month?
• What key activities are important to put boundaries around?
• What distractions do you want to minimize?
• What relationships are important to note?
• What habits to you want to count on?

What else?

If you have a copy of PlanDoTrack or Coaching Business Builder take note of the metrics you have been tracking in your Monthly Daily Trackers and be sure to complete the Month in Review as well as your Monthly To-Dos, and new month in review.

With best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.
For those looking for tips, tools and ideas about remote work and support for your remote teams, be sure to check out these tags and resources. ​

This month we are going to look at several interesting topics including:

• The variations of remote work
• Remote Team Tools
• Getting organized in the remote space
• Performance Reviews in the Remote Space
  
• Remote Myth Buster – Things need to take longer
  
• Setting up the team for remote team success – Going back to the basics

Given that it's the start of a new month, let's take a few minutes to look back at September and consider what's important for your month ahead.

AS you think about September, make sure you have captured your thinking around these questions:
1. Key successes in September were...
2. Lessons learned were....
3. Next month I will
4. Something which surprized me this month was...
5. Something I want to replicate is....
6. Other things to note are..

Questions to consider as we step into October:
1. What are your top 3-5 goals this month?
2. What needs to get completed, no matter what?
3. What habits and practices do you want to lean into?
4. What do you need to say NO To?
5. Who do you want to collaborate with?
6. My theme this month is....
Be sure to check out yesterday's post as well about Q4 planning.

Look forward to diving deeper into the remote work space this month!

Best,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.
For those looking for tips, tools and ideas about remote work and support for your remote teams, be sure to check out these tags and resources. ​

This month we have explored a variety of topics resonant for the mid-year rhythm:

• Digital Detox
• Work-life
• Focus
• Simplification
• Habits
• Creativity

What are you noticing about your work flow and energy right now?
​
As we step into the month of August, the work routine may adjust once again, AND I hope that you will be able to return back to these posts once again.
 
Today is the last day of the month, signalling a time to pause and take stock on what the last month was like, and do some planning for the month ahead.
Here are a variety of questions you may want to explore:
Looking back to the month of July:

1. What are you pleased with achieving?
2. What didn’t get completed but is going to be carried forward?
3. What strengths did you leverage this month?
4. What got in the way of your plans/achievements?
5. What helped to MAGNIFY or AMPLIFY things?
6. What helped you FOCUS?
7. What helped you SIMPLIFY?
8. What else is important to note about your month? (metrics, lessons learned, other…)
9. What did you do to renew?
10. What habits did you lean into?

 
Looking ahead to the month ahead:

1. What are your major goals?
2. What do you want to focus on?
3. What do you want to let go of?
4. What will help you simplify?
5. What will help you MAGNIFY or AMPLIFY?
6. What habits do you want to focus on?
7. What relationships do you want to pay attention to?
8. What actions/projects do you want to complete, not matter what?
9. What else is important to note?

Enjoy your reflection!

​Best wishes,
Jennifer

Welcome to June! What’s exciting about this month for you? What are your new goals?

As we step into a new month, I’m excited to be focusing on undertaking a mid-year review with you this month. We’ll be reconnecting with some of the core activities that help teams and organizations excel:

• Team Tune Up
• Systems Check
• Feedback and Performance Check
• Coaching and Mentoring
• Streamlining Meetings
• Presentations
• Knowledge Management – Capturing Successes and Strategic Issues

It’s also an opportunity to take stock of the past month and look ahead to what you want to create in June. Before we go further, I hope that you will take a few minutes to explore these questions. Grab a pen and journal and let’s go. Given that we are stepping into the middle part of the year, what do you want to note about what you want to create by the end of the month? By the end of Q2?

Here are some questions to consider:

1. As you reflect on May, what have been your successes and accomplishments?
2. What are you most proud of?
3. What successes this month do you want to duplicate? What has been some of your key learning?
4. What key relationships have helped you so far this year? Which ones need more attention?
5. What has helped your successes? What has hindered?
6. What does your team need to be acknowledged for?

As you look to June, consider these questions:

1. What are your key priorities for June?
2. What are the key goals?
3. What are the major priorities?
4. What will you need to place attention on?
5. What changes do you want to make in June?
6. What resources do you want to tap into?
7. By the end of the month, which will be the middle of the year, what do you want to make sure you have completed?

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

This month we explored the topic of Teamwork in Uncertainty. From looking at the statistics of readers, it seems like it was a very resonant topic for those who visited the Teams365 blog this month. If you haven’t taken a look at this month’s posts, please be sure to check out:

1968 – Tuesday May 21: Teamwork in Uncertainty – Pivot
1969 – Wednesday May 22: Teamwork in Uncertainty  - Comfort with the Unknown
1974 –– Tuesday May 28: Teamwork in Uncertainty – Strengths and Go-Tos
1975 – Wednesday May 29: Teamwork in Uncertainty – Synergies

As we step into the end of May, I thought it would be useful to reach back to one of the posts from last May on Prioritization.

One of the most disruptive things about disruption is the impact on our focus. Prioritization becomes a key skill set to cultivate.

Here’s what I wrote last May about leading in complexity -
​
“Prioritization is a skill set we draw upon regularly in times of complexity. Prioritization allows all team members to regularly scan and manage their workload.

Key to prioritization is:

• Having the tools to prioritize
• Feeling empowered to make decisions and take responsibility for managing workload
• Understanding what is most important – to the different players of the team, as well as the different time frames you are working on (short term, medium term)

In past Teams365 posts I’ve explored a range of prioritization skills including the Urgent/Important Matrix (we often attribute to Covey), as well as a Decision Matrix where we weigh what’s important in making our decisions.
 
For more on the topic of prioritization, check out these additional resources:
This excellent article from MindTools.com - which has an incredible amount of other resources team members and leaders will also want to check out.

LiquidPlanner.com's article on How to Prioritize Work When Everything Is #1 - Read it here."

For those that are looking at prioritization through the lens of product design, you'll want to take  a look at this excellent article 20 Product Prioritization Techniques.

In my books PlanDoTrack and the Coaching Business Builder I share four prioritization tools I use regularly with my clients and teams including the Urgent/Important Matrix and Strategic Issues Mapping.

The issue of prioritization takes on increased importance when we are working as part of a matrix or remote team. In these instances, our priorities may be varied and not as visible to ourselves and others. What is important for you to note around prioritization?

Best
Jennifer

Jennifer Bri​tton – Potentials Realized 
Leadership | Teamwork | Business Success
Author of multiple books including Effective Virtual Conversations (2017), PlanDoTrack (2019) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)
Follow along with the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series over at Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder 
Join the conversation at the Conversation Sparker Zone - our online community where you can explore virtual and team issues, coaching, productivity and business development.
Pick up a copy of Volume 1 of the Weekly Journaling Prompts in a digital format. Print it out and take it with you for some inspiration and writing on the go! Available at the Potentials Realized Store.